The Remainder
by remnants-2011
Summary: Suppose the Cerebro Attack in X2 was a tad bit more...Fatal... (Revised posting)
1. Beginning

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Disclaimer: Don't own X-men, or any other thing tat seems familiar. 

A/N: Some of y'all might remember this from late summer 2003, the first few chapters at least. Well, after finishing 'Night' I decided why not start back up again? So here it is, the rewrite, and some new stuff… I promise I will finish this time, even if it kills me! Anyway, enjoy, and please review. (Remember that I love constructive criticism!) 

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A blonde girl in her late teens walked cautiously alone through the woods. She unconsciously pushed her dark sunglasses up her nose, making sure no one could see her eyes. She was entering yet another small, mountain town. In the back of her mind, She doubted this town would be any different than the rest- and she didn't dare stay longer than necessary. At this point, even a feeble attempt was all that could possibly keep her alive.

It had been quite a few years that she'd been on her own, so long that she wasn't quite sure anymore. Almost mournfully, she sighed. Adding to her somewhat depressed state, she reminded herself that she was probably the last of her kind. One of the last, at least.

As the walked closer and closer, stumbling over a loose tree root, noises from the small town became evident. This reassured that she was getting closer, and the outdated map hap been accurate. She paused for a moment, making sure what little mental shields she had were kicked up and in full force. She didn't want anyone snooping around in there; it had happened months ago, and it hadn't been pretty.

As she stood at the edge of the dark forest, she surveyed the town below. It lay nested in a shallow valley of bright green, with the snow-capped mountains shielding it from all sides. Yeah, she had seen plenty of towns like this over the years, but she still found it a joy to take in the full scene when she got the opportunity. But, quickly she reminded herself why she here and set down the grassy hill at a fast pace. 

Minutes later, she was standing at the far end of the main street. She saw a few people bumbling along, lost in their own little worlds. Keeping her head down turned, She casually walked along the sidewalk, looking for something. Chewing on her lip in thought, the girl entered the first store she saw.

She grabbed an orange plastic shopping basket quickly; and she selected a few items from the shelves, her mind focusing on the small amount of money she had left. With a slight nod she headed towards the cash register, warily eyeing each person she walked by. As she stood in line, she saw a faded display of calendars. Peering at one, she carefully picked it up. Leafing through, her eyes drifted over to the year. _2010_. 'So it has really been that long…' she thought, hastily putting the calendar down and handing her things to the clerk. As he rung up her few items, the girl stared at his bright orange hair, wondering slightly what it was he could do. With a smile he bagged her things and handed them to her, which she gratefully accepted, and quickly walked out of the store.

The teen put her things into her old worn-out and dirty backpack, and gave one last look upon the small town. Still remnants of devastation marred and marked places, like scars upon the world. She shook her head, wondering if anything could have been done to stop it.

'No, it's too late for them,' She sadly thought, memories of the people she had known prior to the war drifting through her head. 

The war- The war between mutants and humans that is. It really had never got started, yet it ended so abruptly. 'We never had a chance to even fight back!_'_ She thought bitterly. The girl knew it hadn't really been the mutant's fault – what was his name again? Ah yes, Xavier. She'd heard a lot about Stryker, and Magneto, and other reports and such. In reality though, it didn't really matter who's fault exactly it was, just that it had happened, and the damage had long been done. Oh course, After the attacks, only propaganda had been spoken about the three. With that last thought, she began to make her way out of the town, withdrawing her worn out map from her pack as she walked back into the woods. 

Later that day, just as twilight was beginning to seep away, her thoughts still gently lingered around Xavier and all he had caused. Even unconsciously, how could someone kill out so many people?The thought drifted through her mind. Feeling tired, She sat down slowly on the dirt up against a tree. The bark scratched her back, but she didn't really notice. 

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"Hello, Katie." A voice boomed within her head.

Bolting upright, and looking around, it took her a few seconds to realize that whoever was speaking to her was apparently telepathic.

'Stay away.'She thought silently.

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"Now Katie, Will you at least listen to my offer?" The voice said with a slight chuckle.

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'No.' She coldly thought.

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"Katie, How long has it been since you actually talked to someone?"

To that, she remained silent.

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"I know you may not trust me, and I am sorry. As you may or may not know, My name is Charles Xavier-"

'You!' She thought angrily.

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"Yes, As I was saying, I run a school for gifted youngsters- mutants."

'That doesn't concern me.'

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"Ah, yes, well I'm offering this to you due to your…predicament."

The girl, Katie snorted. Yeah, some fine predicament.

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"Katie, your not alone. There are a few like you left. Now, you really have nothing to fear - even out there, but please consider what I'm offering."

'How about….No.' She thought.

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"Splendid. The jet is already on its way to pick you up." Xavier explained, ignoring completely what she had said before closing the telepathic link.

With a groan, she slowly stood up, gathering the few things she owned. She had always known it would only be a matter of time before one of these telepaths tracked her down. She only hoped it wouldn't be all that bad. She leaned back against the tree and waited- for a jet, in the middle of the woods.

Sure enough, a few minutes later Katie could see a black jet. Not to far from her was a tiny clearing, in which it landed. Stepping out of it was a few people, who waved her over.

Katie hesitantly walked over, lugging her backpack.

Two people greeted her, introducing themselves as Cyclops and Storm. They led her inside the jet, and sat her down next to a girl with rich brown hair, sporting a pale white streak in the front.

"Ah'm Rogue," She said with a distinct southern accent, extending a gloved hand.

Katie nodded with an unsure smile. "Katie," she said, gently shaking Rogue's hand. Rogue turned and pointed to the blonde haired boy sitting across from them, "That's Bobby," She explained.

To this, Katie nodded.

The two looked back over at her.

"So, what can you do?" Bobby asked finally, breaking the long silence.

Katie stared at the two obvious mutants a bit uncomfortably. "Well," she started, pausing. "You all remember the 'Cerebro' attack, that killed off most-well practically all the humans?" she asked.

Not quite understanding where this was going, both Bobby and Rogue nodded.

Katie smiled sadly, "I'm one of the few human survivors…."


	2. Journey

The rest of the flight on the _Blackbird_ was fairly quiet, Rogue and Bobby simply held hands, and Katie quickly fell asleep. Dreams of the horrible things she'd witnessed in the last few years danced through her head. Everyone was dying, over and over in her continuous nightmares.

Katie awoke with a start when she felt Rogue's gloved hands gently shaking her.

"We're 'bout to land," Rogue explained in a whisper. Katie nodded, still recovering from the horrid dreams.

Bobby leaned over towards the two girls, "If I were you, I'd hang on. Scott's not the best at landings." He whispered with a playful smile. Rogue tried to keep from laughing, which resulted in a huge grin.

Katie looked over at them feeling so much like the outsider that she knew she was. Just then, the _Blackbird _took a sudden drop, causing a quick jolt for those in the back.

"Told ya," Bobby said, as they began to undo the military-style seatbelt straps.

"Sorry about that." Scott said a few moments later as he came out of the cockpit, followed closely by Storm. They exited the _Blackbird_, and Katie looked around confused. They seemed to be in some sort of huge airline hanger.

Katie paused, looking at the two adults. "I thought we were going to Xavier's School," She said with confusion.

Ororo turned and looked at her for a moment, unsure of what the girl was talking about. A few seconds though, it dawned on her, and she laughed. "We are – in fact, we're there." She explained with a smile.

"This is a school?"

Storm nodded, then continued walking with the others across the large hanger towards a door. Katie shook her head and followed along behind.

The door apparently was some sort elevator, taking them up to the 'real' part of the school. Once there, Rogue and Bobby split off in their own direction with cheerful 'good-byes'; but Scott and Ororo gestured for Katie to follow them instead.

They two older mutants walked side by side in front her, silent. As she walked, her eyes drifted around the room. Rich mahogany walls and elegant décor made her wonder about whom exactly ran this place.

Abruptly, Scott and Ororo stopped in front of a large wooden door. Katie cautiously stepped inside, which they entered slowly, gesturing for her to do so as well. The first thing her eyes drew to was the bald man sitting behind a desk. His face plastered on a chiseled smile, as he stared at her. Beginning to feel uneasy, Katie's eyes wandered around the room. Various plants and more pieces of lavish furniture where scattered decoratively about.

'Katie,' the man finally said_. Err wait, he didn't actually speak – oh, Xavier_. Katie made the simple deduction.

She heard him telepathically chuckle in her head.

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'Ok, Fun's over. Would you mind getting out of my head now?' Katie thought sarcastically.

This time the professor's laugh was audible.

"Gee, Thanks." She mumbled.

"I am sorry my dear. Now, as you quite clearly already know, my name is Charles Xavier, and this is my school," He paused. Katie nodded and waited for him to continue.

The Professor raised his hand and gestured to the two adults behind her. "And you have already met Scott Summers, also known as Cyclops. And Ororo Munroe, also known as Storm. Dr. McCoy and Kurt should be up momentarily." He added.

As if on cue, the heavy oak doors opened – revealing a sight that almost made Katie's jaw drop. There stood a…a.. well, she couldn't really describe the _thing _in front of her. It was a man (at least at some time), and was very large, muscular, and blue. His hair was swept back in a style that possibly could have been considered normal, if not for the fact that it was blue. Her eyes widened when she saw what appeared to be rather large teeth, but then of course, it could have merely been the stress of the moment.

"Katie, This is Dr. Hank McCoy." Xavier said, interrupting her unfaltering stare.

Hank offered out his hand to her, and it took a moment for her to slowly react. Timidly she offered her hand and was kinda amazed at how gentle he was. Katie was about to comment on that when yet another 'guest' arrived.

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BAMF. 

"What was….." Katie started to ask as she turned around to look behind herself. Her eyes grew wide and her jaw dropped in a mixture between shock and just plain fear.

In front of her stood a demon. Literally! His skin was a deep indigo blue, as was his short, curly hair. The demon's eyes were a dark yellow. Behind him, a long, pointed tail whipped back and forth anxiously.

Katie struggled to speak. Shetried to calm herself, reminding herself of all the mutants similar and certainly as freakish as this before. But, nonetheless, when you see something that is the perfect living illustration of the horrors you learned about in Sunday school, you did tended to become a bit overcome.

The professor, seeing her reaction, quickly interrupted with introductions.

"Kurt, this is Katie. As I mentioned earlier, she is the new student. Katie this is-" The professor was cut off by Kurt.

"Kurt Wagner, but in the Munich Circus, I vas called ze Incredible Nightcrawler!" He exclaimed with a smile. A smile that showed his pointed, yellowed teeth, that is.

This was the last straw for Katie. Absently she crossed herself and promptly fainted.

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'Hank, catch her!' Xavier warned telepathically. Fortunately Hank was able to catch her, and scoop her body up in his oversized arms.

"Should I take down her to the med.-bay?" He asked. The Professor nodded with a slight smile, as Hank left.

"I am so sorry Professor," Kurt sad, slightly bowing his head.

"It's not your fault, Kurt. Too much, too fast." Xavier mumbled the last part.

After a moment of silence, Scott who had been silent for quite some time spoke up. "Well, that went well." He said sarcastically. To that, Xavier shot him a uncharacteristic glare.

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	3. Awakening

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Falling.

It was summer, life was good. 

She stood there in the small yard of their suburban home, her toes entwined with the vibrant blades of grass and her dazzling blue eyes shining. The sun left white glints of light upon her hair, like miniature stars, dazzling in the ever-moving strands.

Then everything suddenly grew quiet as a cloud dramatically blocked out the sun.

The unnatural calm before the equally unnatural storm.

And then it began.

As if a switch was flipped, in one instant, a searing pain ripped through her head, screams erupting from her lips. She fell to her knees, dimly aware of the surrounding screams and cries of pain as she clutched her own head.

Screams and sobs racked her body.

Darkness was beginning to close in. Yes! Darkness was good, the darkness brought peace from the pain.

And then it stopped, as quickly as it had begun.

Shocking and both emotionally and physically drained, the girl collapsed.

Hours later, in the early twilight, her eyes fluttered open as she awoke.

She slowly sat up, her blonde locks tousled and scratches lining her face. She stood and looked around.

There was no one to be seen, anywhere. The typically busy neighborhood was deathly quiet.

The longer she went without seeing anyone, the quicker fear enveloped her. From where she stood in her yard, she yelled for her parents and older brother. No reply.

She repeated the call once more, adrenaline pumping through her veins. When once again there was no response, she took off in a full sprint towards the front door.

She hurriedly jiggled the knob, forcing the door open. She darted through the first floor of the house, seeing no one.

Her heart beat thumping loudly in the lack of sound, she slowly took to the stairs. She climbed up slowly, a sense of foreboding telling her to turn away –to run. Run as faraway as she could get, and to keep on going when she got there.

As she mounted the top step, she turned to her brother's room first. Gingerly, she placed her fingers on the door and slowly pushed it open, fearing the worst.

She peered inside; the room was empty.

Biting the edge of her lip, she turned in the opposite direction and headed towards the den. The den sat directly between her room and her parent's room.

She pushed the door to the den open slowly, and her breath caught in her throat. From where she stood in the doorway, she could see three bodies, strewn about the room, pain etched upon their lifeless faces.

Tears welled up in her eyes as bile also rose in her throat. She backed away, slowly at first, but her pace quickening.

She bumped into the stair rail, which brought her back to her senses if only slightly. She turned and as quickly as she could, ran to her bedroom and began throwing things into her backpack and duffel bag. She could not stay here.

No.

No. No. No. No. No! No!!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

Katie bolted awake, her breath quick. 

She put her hand up to her chest. "Oh god," She murmured, remembering the dream. Except- it was no dream; it was reality.

Then she began to look around at her unfamiliar surroundings, the panic once again rising.

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What had happened? Slowly she remembered, Xavier, and all that had just happened. 

Cautiously, Katie looked around the room she was in. It was fairly large, with several other operating type tables, like the one she lay upon, were scattered about in and orderly fashion. Metallic topped counters and cupboards lined the walls, and a few silver surgical utensils were scattered about.

The room screamed of doctors, scientists, and of all those things that led right to where she certainly did not want to be. 

The one thing lacking in the room, to make her vision of soon-to-be experimentation a reality, was people. There should be someone, anyone. At least she expected someone with a sedative of sorts.

But that didn't mean she wanted to wait for them to come for her. Oh no, not going to happen. She had survived things like this before, several times at that. Her thoughts became scrambled as adrenaline pumped through her veins.

She leaped off the operating table, onto the sterile linoleum floor as soundlessly as she could manage. Looking around once more, she cautiously walked towards the doorway, pausing briefly before walking out into the hallway. She had expected some form of opposition, but was met with none. With that, she broke into a sprint down the hall, her mind reeling.

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'I never should have trusted Xavier!' She wanted to scream at herself for being so foolish. _'He obviously sold me out, that bastard. Ok, well- well, he won't succeed, no, no, he can't. Oh shit, where am I?'_ She thought as she came to a halt, her feet sliding on the overly polished floor. She looked around the empty metallic hallway, lost and confused. 

The hall stretched on and on with no signs of even going somewhere, let alone stopping.

A stressed sigh escaped her lips, and she caught a look of her reflection in the strange metal walls. She turned to fully face the wall, her eyes intently studying what she saw.

The reflection was that of a typical girl in her late teens- well in pre-Cerebro earth that is. Girls her age now could literally look like just about anything. Being on the run for years had had its effect on the girl, her once carefree, innocent eyes now both cold and dark. Her clothes and face covered in a thick layer of dusty dirt, almost appearing as some sort of strange sun tan on her once deathly pale skin.

A noise.

She spun around, searching for the cause. She was met with an empty hall in both directions. This did not satisfy her though, she knew of these mutants and their powers. All too well, she knew. There could be one whose talent was to become invisible. They could be sneaking up behind her right now. Any second and…

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'Stop it!' She thought to herself, annoyed at her own paranoia. With that, she calmly turned and continued walking on her path down the hall.

Wait! There was the noise- again.

Katie stopped and froze. She knew she had heard something that time. Slowly, she turned around, but saw no one. She squinted her eyes just slightly, she was tired of this game.

And then… A faint smell drifted up to her nose. She sniffed once then breathed in deeply. It smelled like brimstone. _'That's strange,' _She thought, but then she quickly remembered the incident in Xavier's office.

The slight noise, the faint smell, the only thing missing was the black smoke and the demon. She smirked slightly. So that the game Xavier wanted to play. Well, fine with her. 

Katie began walking again, gaining speed, going fast and faster until her walk was practically a full out run.

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Bamf

There it was again. But she kept right on going, from the perspective of anyone else, she would have appeared to have completely not heard it.

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Bamf! 

Suddenly the smoke was in front of her, really right in front of her. The foul smelling smoke drifted around and spun in it's own delicate little pattern, revealing it's source.

Nightcrawler.

This time she expected what she saw, and was on guard for the demonic sight.

It smiled at her, and opened it's mouth to speak. It didn't get that far.

Katie swung her leg up, smacking the blue mutant on the side of the head, or at least, that's where she had aimed. Kurt teleported a nanosecond before impact, popping out on her other side. She tried to beat him of in some way, but he was able to get a firm grip across her neck.

"I am sorry," He murmured with his heavily accented voice before driving a syringe into the base of her neck.

And then, everything for Katie went black.


	4. Assignment

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Katie gave a small moan as she returned to consciousness.

"I'm glad to see you're finally awake," said a voice beside her.

Barely awake, her eyelids fluttered, a confused look drawing upon her face.

"Katie," the voice repeated, firmer this time.

Her eyes snapped open, and she bolted up right in the chair. She looked around; she was in Xavier's office once more. "What happened?" She questioned.

"You were going to run," He simply stated. "We can't have that now, can we?" He asked condescendingly, smile still stuck upon his face. 

She moaned again as she stretched her muscles. "What'd you do to me?" She asked more directly.

Xavier's eyes turned away, looking ruefully out the window. "I had Kurt sedate you, just a simple drug Dr. Grey used to make all the time."

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'Like I care who made it,' She thought with annoyance. Annoyed at herself, annoyed at Xavier, and annoyed that every muscle burned like it was on fire.

Xavier chuckled. "Don't worry, the side effects will wear off fairly soon, plenty of time before dinner."

"Wait, Dinner?! How long was I out?" She demanded.

"Just overnight and most of the morning the first time, and only about twenty minutes or so the latter." Xavier explained. "One of the students will be coming by soon to show you around the school soon." He added.

Katie merely nodded.

Xavier continued, "And I have a list of your classes which you will be attending, starting tomorrow." He said with yet another polite smile.

"Classes?" She questioned.

"Yes, classes. School." Xavier defined. 

"But I'm too old, I would've graduated from high school last summer." She protested.

" '_Would have,'_" Xavier accented. "Which is why you will be taking classes you missed here."

"Ok, well then, how do you propose me – a human – to actually be with your students?" She asked, sarcasm and anger laced in her voice.

Xavier looked down on her condescendingly, "Who said anyone would know your human?"

"But Bobby and Marie know, as do the other people you introduced me to."

Xavier chuckled, "They will not tell anyone unless you want them too…"

A knock came at the door.

"Come in," Xavier called.

The wooden doors were slowly pushed open, revealing a short Asian girl. 

"This is Jubilation Lee- " Xavier began.

"Ah, It's Jubilee, or Jubes, don't really matter to me." The girl replied quickly with a slight bop of her head. The enormous hoop earring that adorned her ears swayed with the action.

Xavier nodded, "Yes, the is Jubilee. She is in most of your classes, so she will be showing you around."

Katie opened her mouth in protest once more, but was met with a strong telepathic message. 

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'Don't mess with the arrangements. You will be attending classes, it's too late to back out. And don't even think of leaving….'Xavier's now cold voice rang through her head.

Katie stared at him.

Xavier widened his smile, "I hope you are able to adjust well, dear." He said before turning towards Jubilee, "Now, why don't you show Ms. Becker around, introduce her to a few of the students. She will be staying in dorm 103. Good luck you two."

With that, The two teens left quietly.

"So why'd you like, come here?" Jubilee asked a few minutes later as the two walked down a deserted hall. "Oh, I'm sure you will totally like it, everyone here's great. I'm just like, curious though- ya know?" She continued.

Katie nodded slowly. _'This girl should be banned from all things with caffeine,'_ she thought before answering as she noted her classmate's hyperactive behavior. . "Well, I suppose you can say that Xavier just…found me." She replied blankly after a moment's hesitation.

Jubilee looked slightly unconvinced, but she was already on to a new topic.

"So what's your power?"

Katie stopped walking.

Jubilee stared at her. "You ok?"

"Who told you?" Katie demanded, ignoring the latter question. 

"Told me what?" Jubilee asked confused.

Realizing her error, Katie silently cursed her own stupidity. She stared walking again, her pace faster this time. 

"What was that?" Jubilee demanded, falling back into pace with the human.

"Nothing. Nothing at all, just…my mistake." Katie struggled, her face flushing.

To this, Jubilee just nodded silently. 

"Look, I don't really feel up to this, can you show me to the dorms?" Katie asked.

Jubilee nodded again and they took off towards the dorm rooms.

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Katie spent the rest of the afternoon isolating herself in her empty dorm room. She hadn't been around people, not like this for so long. She sniffed. God, she'd been tearing up all day. She sighed and rolled over on the wrinkled bedspread. She was so lost. 

Classes, Students, Mutants. Living here, forever? With Xavier, his cold, watching eyes and constant invasion of privacy? Could she deal with it? And of course, everyone would find out soon enough. Whispers would follow her in the halls, the anxious stares of classmates and teachers. Oh god, She thought, her breaths becoming quick. No! No, She reaffirmed. There is no backing out now, as Xavier had so harshly reminded her. But still, part of her mind tugged at the notion that things were not always as they appeared. 

She stood up and stretched, her worn out jeans falling low on her hips. She pulled at the waistband gently, taking note that while she was here she really should wash a few of her clothes. Katie gently rolled her neck and was met with a satisfying pop. She then padded her way into the bathroom, pausing to examine herself in the mirror. Blonde hair was matted against her head and fell in snake-like clumps here and there. Eye makeup was smeared, giving her dark circles underneath and around her eyes. She gave herself a half smile.

"It's going to be alright," She murmured absently as she turned and began to draw a bath. Her thoughts were still swirled around Xavier's mysterious ways. Her main concern though, was a simple question. Why? Why was he doing this? What made Mr. High and mighty mental mutant decide to track her down? And why did he imply he was looking for others like her? 

Katie suddenly turned at stared at herself in the mirror with a raised eyebrow. "You're going insane," She said, pointing a finger at her reflection. She laughed, grabbing what appeared to be a clean towel from a rack underneath the sink. She closed the door and settled in for a nice, long bath.

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Xavier sat up in his office, drumming his fingers rhythmically against the rich, dark wood of his desk. He had found another one. He gave a faint smile, drawing his hands up to stroke his chin. 'Perhaps,' He pondered, lost in thought. 'Perhaps I may prove Eric wrong yet.'

A knock from the door jostled him from his daydream. 

"Yes, Yes, Come in." He called cheerfully. The thick door opened to reveal the slender form of Ororo Munroe, carrying a silver tray laden with a delicate looking china cup, a small stainless steel teakettle and a matching china plate of biscuits. Xavier smiled as she slowly walked in and set the tray down on his desk. With a sincere smile, Ororo turned to quietly leave. She closed the door behind her, leaving Xavier alone once again with only his thoughts.

He reached over and took a sip of tea. He thought about contacting Eric, but he tossed that thought aside. When he was finished, and everything was working again, then he and Eric could talk until the end of days. But until then…

Xavier carefully set down the cup on the tray and began to look through files on his desk. He was looking for something, a small scrap of paper he knew had to be somewhere in this highly organized mess. Several minutes later though, Xavier gave up with a frustrated wave of his hand. Ah, he could just use Cerebro. 

Leaning over to take another sip of tea, he wondered with a smile how his good friend Neil was doing on his island. Xavier laughed, remembering the man. Yes, soon he would plan to take Kate down there. He was sure Neil would be happy. He let out another small chuckle with that thought. 

"All in good time," He muttered, turning his wheelchair so he could see out his large office window. Tea in hand, he wheeled a bit closer and surveyed the children playing below. With another long sip, Xavier repeated his ongoing vow to make it all right again. He just needed time.

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	5. Mr Spaceman

Early the following morning, Xavier sat waiting in his office. His fingers drummed out a tune recognizable only to him as his eyes gazed blankly out the window. At the sound of the brassy doorknob turning, He bolted back into a proper upright position, mentally scolding himself for not paying attention. It seemed to be happening more and more these days; he would just drift off in his own little world. 

The door slowly opened to reveal a somewhat agitated looking Katie. He smiled at the sight of her and gestured for her to sit down. She complied, still looking rather angry. He looked down and shuffled through a few papers on his desk, silence thickly hanging over them. Finally though, Katie spoke up.

"You insist I attend classes, but before I can get to the first one you call me up to your office?" She questioned, her voice showing her annoyance.

Xavier chuckled, still organizing his papers. 

"Well?" She asked after another moment.

"I thought," He began, looking up at her from behind his desk. "That you might possibly be interested in meeting one of the others." He said slowly.

Katie stared at him, wondering what exactly he meant. Other students? Staff? Or humans?

"Humans, dear." He said, breaking through her thoughts.

Her face involuntarily brightened. "Really?"

Xavier smiled. "I would not lie about that," He replied. Katie watched as his eyes slowly turned to focus on the window before snapping back towards her. "Well, if you are interested in going, Nightcrawler can take you."

"When?"

Xavier glanced down at his watch. "I would say…in about five minutes. Shall I call him?" He questioned.

Katie opened her mouth to speak but before she could, Nightcrawler was already there. He smiled, and gave a quick two-fingered wave.

"Kurt," Xavier began. "Could you take Katie down to the island? I want her to meet Neil." He said, eyes focused intently on Nightcrawler. Katie guessed his was communicating telepathically with the mutant. 

Kurt's face brightened and he gave a quick nod. "Ja," He said with his thickly accented voice. He held out his hand, which she timidly took as she stood. 

"Try and be back before too long," Xavier said vaguely. Kurt saluted to him and with a puff of smoke, they were gone. 

_______________________

Instants later, Kurt and Katie appeared on a small island in Washington's Puget Sound. Katie quickly stumbled to the ground when Kurt released his hold on her. She rolled over on to her back and gazed upwards. When she had heard the Professor mention an island, she had assumed he meant a tropical island. This was anything but. Pine trees loomed overhead and a glacier about the size of a small car stood nearby. 

"Where are we?" she asked, pushing herself up out the dirt, the feeling of motion sickness gone.

"The island," Kurt told her softly.

Katie forced a smile. "I can see _that_, but where is this island?" She said through gritting teeth as she stood.

"Oh!" Kurt said, realizing what she meant. "In the Pacific Ocean, off the Washington Coast, I believe." He murmured, looking around. "Ah, there is the cabin!" He cried, gesturing off into the distance. 

Katie squinted. "I don't see…" She was interrupted when Kurt grabbed on to her arm again and teleported in front of a good-sized house, built in an old-fashioned style. Moss covered decaying piles of firewood sat propped up against the sides and an overgrown garden grew rampant all around the cabin.

As she was studying their surroundings, Nightcrawler was knocking on the door with a slight impatience. Finally though, it was answered. The rusty door hinges let out a loud screech as the person within powerfully pushed open the door. Katie stared from where she stood several yards away. The owner of the cabin was an older man; he looked to be about in his mid-forties. He bore a graying, receding hairline and pale skin. Dark blue eyes offered a cold contrast to his otherwise faded looking face. She watched as Nightcrawler talked quietly with the man. She was unable to hear them, but witnessed a flamboyant exchange of gestures before the man seemed to give in. Kurt turned and gestured that she should come over to them. 

"This is Neil Branch. Neil, Caitlin Becker." Kurt introduced with a smile. Katie eyes drifted between the two expectantly. 

Neil loudly cleared his throat. With a gruff voice, he voiced the quick statement, "I hear you survived too."

Katie's jaw involuntarily dropped as she heard him say that. _'Too,' _she noted. He…He must be…No. She kept on staring as she argued with her self over the possibility of this being the human Xavier had produced. Before she knew it, Nightcrawler and Neil were ushering her inside the cabin. 

The inside of the cabin was certainly nicer than she had expected. All new furniture and decorative pieces made the living room appear to have just come out of a showroom. Looking past the welcoming tones of the living room, she could see the kitchen. All new stainless steel appliances were crowded into the room, with a pair of whitewashed doors leading somewhere unknown.

Neil told her to feel free to sit down. She looked around and plopped herself down on the closest cushioned seat she could find. He went into the kitchen and returned several moments later with a tray laden with a brewing teapot, several mugs and a few muffins. He set it down on the oak coffee table and offered a cup of tea to Nightcrawler, who accepted.

"Kurt, would you mind giving Caitlin and I sometime alone?" Neil asked as he passed the mug over into the scared, blue hands of Nightcrawler. Kurt nodded as he wrapped his hands around the mug. He looked down at the steaming liquid inside and took in a deep breath of steam. He flashed the two a smile before he teleported out.

Once the last of Nightcrawler's smoky residue had faded away; Neil turned back to her. They sat across from each other, the coffee table between them. 

Neil let out a sigh after a moment and leaned forward to pour himself a cup of tea. When he reached forward, the arm of his red flannel shirt slid up his arm, revealing inches of scar tissue. Katie's eyes widened slightly. 

"How…?" She began to ask, trailing off. He looked down and realized she meant the scar. He let out a chuckle and leaned back comfortably in the couch. 

"Long story, Caitlin." He said, taking a sip.

"Katie, please." She corrected quietly.

"Oh, sorry." He said. He took in a deep breath. "Well, since I've got the time, and I'm guessing you do as well so I might as well go into it. You may find it interesting." He said with a slight shrug. 

"Anyway, these scars are from what saved my life." He cast an upward look. "The ol' NASA shuttle. Endeavor."

"You were an astronaut?" She questioned.

Neil gave a content smile "Yep. I was up there when Xavier's mind nuke hit. Didn't go that high up I guess. The five of us were in the middle of a radio conference with Mission Control, when it hit. They were all screaming bloody murder for a few minutes and then it just went silent. Scared the shit out of us. We all thought that War on Terror had finally gone too far and somebody finally dropped a WMD. Close enough, I guess." He said, pausing. "We didn't know what to do. Stay up there until we run out of supplies and starve, suffocate, of dehydrate…Or one of several other scenarios, or try and fly down a see what the hell happened. We, quite obviously, decided to come down. With no guidance whatsoever from the ground, we managed to crash. " As he was saying this, he began to roll up his sleeves, revealing crepe-like scar tissue that completely covered his arms. 

"I'm the only survivor of that crash. God," He paused, eyes in a faraway daze. "I remember my crewmates screams as we hit. Everything seemed okay for a second, and we thought we had actually made it. Then something, dunno what- just blew from behind. We were on fire much more than you'd expect for a machine that has heat shields on it. Oh yeah. Well, a few minutes later, and we've managed to get the hatch open and me and Chrissy Hopkins are out. She's really badly burned and half-unconscious. Everyone else is dead, and we're out in the middle of a field. We must have overshot the runaway by a few miles. It was awfully cloudy, so I don't blame our pilot. Like I was saying, there I was with Chrissy, who's practically dead when here comes Xavier. He's got his little band of handymen; the X-men, they are appropriately called. He says his little spiel and tells me I'm the first human he's seen in weeks. I started freaking out as he tells me how he single-headily killed everyone with the wrong genetic info and well…Long story short, I'm here." He finished with a half smile.

"Wow," Katie said, studying the man. 

"How about you kid? I'm sure you've got a story too." He said with an encouraging grin.

Katie shrugged. "Not really. I was down here. Went through it just like everyone else." 

"Then why are you…" Neil began but Katie cut him off.

"Still here?" She finished. She shrugged again. "I don't know. I was going to ask Xavier, but I have trouble getting into his office without somehow getting taken away by a student or Nightcrawler." 

To that, Neil nodded. "I know that feeling. Xavier's a busy man, saving the world from his people. Dealing with what he did. It may have been seven years but it might as well have been seven days for that man," He explained, shaking his head.

"You know him quite well then?" She asked, curious.

Neil waved his hand in a dismissive manner. "He studied me, I studied him. We ended up on opposite ends of the coast." He said lightly, getting up to refill the teapot.

"Has he ever found any others?" Katie called, leaning back in the couch so she could still watch him in the kitchen.

"To my knowledge, yes." Neil answered when he returned. "Though I think it's unlikely. Xavier has this way of finding anyone and everyone in the world. I'd have thought he would have found a way by now. Then of course, it really could be just you and me, kid. The spaceman and the anomaly. Now there's a match made in heaven, Eh? Tea?" He finished with the question.

Katie quickly shook her head no and he poured a cup for himself. She found herself gazing up at the high ceilings and looking around. She turned back slowly to Neil. 

"Why did Xavier…?" She asked trailing off.

"Build all this? Lavishly redo the furniture every season? Give me a private island? I think it's simple. Xavier is the game hunter, or the crazed zoologist. Either one, he's in search of a long-lost specimen. When he finally found it, why kill it? Why not keep it hidden away from civilization in a place where he can always be watching safely over it?" Neil said slowly, with a bit of a smirk.

"In this case dear, we are the endangered species. Our time may be running out, but our watcher wants to keep us maintained." Neil finished darkly.


	6. Enough

"…Our time may be running out, but our watcher wants to keep us maintained." Neil's voice echoed through Xavier's head. He gave a halfhearted snort at hearing that. Neil's continued rebellion had lost its humor long ago. Xavier gently switched over to probe Katie's feelings on Neil's statement. What he found did not please him. 

Xavier promptly decided that the two had had enough. He mentally called out to Nightcrawler.

___________________________________________________

Kurt Wagner sat casually perched on a large boulder several hundred yards away from the cabin. The oversized rock was nearly the size of about two rather bulky SUVs piled atop each other. The rock had originally sat just on the ocean's edge. But, as the tide came in, his perch had become a small island. Not that it mattered to him of course though; he didn't have to swim to shore or anything of the sort. 

He absently chipped away at long dried barnacles and the mossy lichen that grew all over the top of the rock as he took a sip of cold tea. He didn't know how much time had gone by since he had left the two humans alone, but he figured it did not really matter. Xavier would be keeping an eye on them; and besides, Kurt knew a greater deal about Neil Branch. He was a good guy. Human though, but still okay. 

Kurt laughed as he reflected back on his thoughts. He remembered a conversation that he had had years ago with Ororo about loving humans, not hating them. Of course, they still existed as a majority back then. Now, all anyone in the mansion could do was whisper his or her feelings of half-hearted pity. The students no longer cared, nor did most of the staff. Xavier had grown quite distant over the last few years and the rest of the X-men had moved on with their lives. Storm kept teaching, as did Scott. Logan came and went as he pleased. No words were spoken of Magneto or of what Xavier had done. Those were things simply not to be executed at Xavier's School for the Gifted. But now, everyone was gifted, so what was the fun in that? 

Kurt gave a small laugh again and casually whipped his pointed tail pack and forth rhythmically. The very tip just grazed the murky gray water. He closed his eyes and took in a deep breath, savoring the feel of the cool mist on his skin. Unfortunately, his moment of solitude was about to come to a screeching halt.

__

'Kurt,' Xavier's voice rang through his head, causing the poor German mutant so much surprise he nearly fell off the rock. 

A small, involuntary sign escaped his mouth before he audibly replied. He questioned what it was the Professor wanted.

Xavier took his time answering. _'I do believe that our friends have had…plenty of time to properly converse about the drama that is their lives,'_ Charles said melodramatically. _'Kurt, please bring the girl back here and tell Neil I'm watching.'_ Xavier commanded before quickly closing his mental link, not bothering to wait for Kurt's reply.

Reluctantly, Kurt gave one last look around at the afternoon sun and blue-gray waters that stretched far beyond what he could see. And with that, He disappeared, teleporting himself back to the cabin.

Nightcrawler appeared with his usual poof in the middle of the cabin's living room. Katie and Neil both looked shocked to see him, Katie much more so than Neil, who was quite used to Kurt's habit of simply popping in by now.

"The Professor said that it was time to bring Katie back to the mansion." Kurt explained. They both stood, and Neil extended his hand to Katie. "It was nice meeting you. " He said quietly. She shook his hand wordlessly before standing over by Nightcrawler. He put his hand on her shoulder but paused before teleporting out. 

"The Professor also said for me to tell you that he is watching." Kurt said and then with a puff of smoke they were gone, leaving Neil alone. Again.

_________________________________________________

They reappeared back at the mansion. Katie found that this time she did not have so much of an aftereffect. She then noted that they were standing outside of Xavier's office. She turned to ask something of Nightcrawler, but he stopped her. 

"He had a class in there," He whispered, and to that, Katie simply nodded. She put her hands in her sweatshirt pocket and discovered a small piece of paper in there that wasn't before. Curious, she withdrew it as she took a casual step away from Kurt.

__

Kate, 

__

Call me when things get rough. 

- Neil 555-2496

She immediately thrust the note back into her pocket. When had he given that to her? Perhaps when they had shaken hands? Kurt gently tapping on her shoulder with a long blue finger interrupted her thoughts. 

"Professor will see us now," He said in his quiet manner. She nodded and followed him inside the office. 

Xavier sat behind his desk as usual, a neat stack of lined papers sat in front of him as he held a thick red pen in his hand. He looked up as they entered and gave a half smile. 

"Grading," He stated as an explanation for what he was doing, then quickly told the to sit down.

A thick silence hung over the room for another moment as Xavier continued to simply grade papers. Finally though, he looked up. 

"I don't know what exactly Neil Branch told you." He began flatly. "But I wanted to make sure you knew that he is mentally unstable." Xavier finished, wheeling out from behind his desk. 

"Neil had a breakdown right after we found him- And another a year later. Whatever he said should for the most part be disregarded as ramblings. I thought you should meet him though." Xavier said remorsefully. 

"He seemed pretty sane to me," Katie quietly commented. Xavier narrowed his eyes. 

"We will have none of that now," He snapped back harshly.

"Neil Branch may be one of the last living humans, but he is not to be trusted." Xavier said, raising his voice. He turned to Kurt, "Make sure she gets back to her room." He commanded and wheeled back behind his desk. 


	7. Dismay

Several months passed by uneventfully. Katie attended classes like the rest of the students, and save for the occasional odd look, she fit in fairly well. She would admit that she hadn't particularly made any friends, but she didn't care. Most of her time was spent up in her dorm room, alone. Sometimes she would walk around the school grounds, but not often. 

But today was one of those rare days. She had found her way down stairs, via an elevator of sorts. Katie was both curious to explore this new, unheard of section of the school, but she was terrified of the thought of Xavier finding her down here. The old man looked nice, but it was clear you didn't want to be on his bad side. 

Her footsteps echoed as she walked down a long corridor. As she continued forth, she began to remember vaguely being in a hall like this when she first came here. Her pace quickened as she also began to realize she was lost. 

She darted in behind a closed door, and closed it behind her. Cautiously, she flipped on a light switch. What she found was not exactly what she had expected. Instead of a room of high-tech gadgets, or training, or just hostile mutants, the room was filled with papers. Boxes, and crates of papers and files. Two computers sat pushed up against the wall on an old wooden desk. 

Though instinct told her to give up and try and find her way back to the surface, Katie slowly approached the computers and sat down. She hit the spacebar and the screen lit up. Words scrolled across the screen, first welcoming her then it gave her two options to proceed. One was to view files, the other option was to add. Katie clicked on the option to view. Suddenly, the screen changed. Miniscule folders filled the screen. Rapidly, she began to scroll down. More and more folders filled her sight. Randomly, she selected one, labeled only with a string of numbers. Within the folder were easily sixty files. Katie opened the one on the very top. It opened to reveal a bank statement. Her jaw dropped slightly. Xavier had been loaded. Building this place must have meant virtually nothing to him. She closed the file and went back to the main screen. Her eyes skimmed through the file names, looking for something of interest. One folder caught her eye.

It was simply labeled, _'H. Sapiens'_, but Katie found it to be a bit odd. With a brief moment of hesitation, she opened the folder. Only eight files were displayed. Her eyes gazed at the titles in shock.

__

CloningI.

CloningII. 

Alterations. 

Modifications. 

Endeavor.

Inconsistencies. 

Further Research. 

Identified Humans. 

Katie swore loudly. It no longer sounded like Xavier was trying to help her, or Neil for that matter. He needed them for genetic material. Her hands were shaking as she opened the first file, entitled 'Cloning I'.

__

CLONING I.

FINAL REPORT FILED: SEPTEMBER 29, 2005

All attempts made for a successful human clone have failed. We were unable to extract and modify enough mutated DNA to make a complete strand...

Katie stopped reading. She thought she heard something outside. She hastily turned the computer off and walked cautiously towards the door. She cracked it open and saw no one. She let out the deep breath she hadn't even realized she had been holding. She turned off the light and walked out, making sure to close the door behind her. 

"Boo." A voice said suddenly yet flatly from behind her. Katie spun around, terrified; and came face to face with an older man, whom she did not recognize.

"I…I got lost," She stammered, taking a step back. The man laughed. 

"That happens a lot around here," He said. He extended his hand. "M' Name's Logan." He stated. She shook his hand and explained that she was new. To that, Logan merely nodded his head and showed her the way back upstairs. 

Once they were upstairs, He excused himself, simply saying he had to talk with the professor. Katie headed back towards her room, her thoughts unwillingly drifting back to what she had seen. It bothered her, and it also made her remember something Neil had mentioned previously. But what?

The dramatic entrance of Jubilee interrupted her thoughts. 

"We're going into town," She called out in a near singsong tone. "And you're coming with." She stated. Katie opened her mouth to protest, but Jubilee cut her off.

"The professor said it would be good for you." She said, turning to put her arm around Katie. "C'mon, it will be fun. You haven't left the place since you came." And with that, Jubilee led her towards the garage.

Nearly an hour later, Jubilee, Katie and another student were approaching the nearest town.

"There isn't anything closer than this?" Katie questioned; a bit surprised Xavier's mansion was so secluded.

"There used to be," Jubilee began to explain. "But after the war there were a lot less people. So, logically the locations of towns were altered. The one that used to be only a few minutes away from the mansion had only two or three people left after what happened." She continued.

Katie just stared out the backseat window as Jubilee kept talking. 

"But, you know, not that much changed afterwards. Life goes one." She mumbled, realizing no one was really listening to her anymore.

The car went over a hill and a relatively small settlement came into view. A rusted and dirty green highway sign came into view. In bold white print it read 'Welcome to Sayreburg. Population: 460.'

"When I first came to the school, there were nearly ten thousand people living here," Jubilee commented.

After a moment, Katie spoke up. "Doesn't it bother you?" She questioned.

Jubilee cast her a glance. "What?"

"That your professor killed them." Katie replied coldly.

Jubilee's eyes shifted forward. "We don't talk about that." She replied. 

"Why?"

"Because they are dead, okay? It wasn't his fault." She declared hotly. The car was silent for the rest of the ride into town. Jubilee wordlessly parked the car on a nearly deserted street, and got out. The other student and Katie did as well. 

"Okay," Jubilee said cheerfully after she had locked the car. "Let's go," She stated, walking towards the shopping center. Katie quietly followed the two other girls, more interested in looking around than shopping. It was the first time she had really been in a town without worrying about somehow inadvertently exposing herself.

The shopping center was probably quite large and active years ago, but today, about half the stores were empty. There were still people milling about here and there, but not what one would have expected in a world prior to the war. 

Katie caught sight of a dimly lit bookstore and excused herself from the other two mutants. They were more than happy to leave her, and swiftly set up a meeting time when they would regroup and head home. 

Katie slowly entered the bookstore and began looking around. A bored looking woman in her thirties manned the register, while the rest of the store was deserted. A lot of the books were old and dusty as well. But there were a few shiny, newer editions scattered through here and there. She walked over to the magazine racks, and found only a few familiar, big-label magazines still being produced. She had never noticed these things in her previous stops for groceries.

A newspaper caught her eye and she kneeled down to get a better view of it. It was an issue of the New York Times, a Sunday edition. It was Thursday today, so it was a few days outdated. She picked it up and began flipping through it, curiously reading through. 

"Ya gonna buy that?" The clerk called out from behind the register. Katie snapped up, paper in hand. She wordlessly walked over and placed a handful of change on the counter and walked away. She folded the newspaper in half and tucked it under her arm. She kept walking on aimlessly; arms crossed and pace lackadaisical. 

She passed a few clothing shops, the fashions were pretty much the same as they were years ago. In fact, about half of it looked like it probably was from several years ago. A grocery store closed up on end of the mall with an old, burnt out Macys sign hanging above the store's own sign. Pretty much everything else was empty and dark. If anything, she was amazed this is what Jubilee had made such a big deal about visiting. 

Bored, Katie left the mall and headed back to the car plenty early. She didn't have much trouble finding it in the empty street, as there were only four other cars parked in the area. She then remembered that she didn't have a key to let herself in. With a sigh, she carefully pushed herself up into a sitting position on the hood. The new, red paint was warm from the sun. She made herself comfortable and withdrew the paper. She slowly unfolded it, taking her time. Katie then began to carefully study the front page. Someone named O'Meara had been elected president. The fifteen members of the Senate were coming up for re-election by the regions. France had invaded Spain. Winthrop predicted another stock market crash. None of it really made sense to her, but she figured it was a start. 

"There she is," She heard Jubilee call from several yards away. Katie immediately refolded her paper as the two students approached. She forced a smile and they all got into the car. Jubilee and the other girl chatted on and on about what they had done over the last hour or two while they began the long ride home.

And hour later, Jubilee pulled up in front of the mansion and let Katie and the other girl out so she could go park the car. Katie quickly retreated back to her room and dropped off her paper. It was close to dinnertime, so she guessed everyone would be eating. She nonchalantly found her way to the elevator and went down. She wandered around trying to find the room where she had been earlier. After twenty minutes of searching, and when she was just about ready to give up, she found the door. She slowly pushed it open and reached in a hand to flip on the light. When she did though, she stopped. Much to her dismay, the room was empty. Completely empty. Shocked, she quickly turned and retreated back upstairs to her room.

_________________

A/N: First one of these in a while! Okay, first off, thanks everyone for the reviews!

Only Human – In response to an early review, nowadays the space shuttle lands on the ground, in Florida, I believe. Possibly Houston or just outside Los Angeles for special conditions, but in this case let's just say Florida. And also don't worry about any erm…interaction romantically between Katie and Neil. Just not gonna happen. Thanks for the reviews too, by the way. Also, I'll try and keep the chapters progressively longer – unless they are really really unessential to the plot, and more just for little bits.

DZ Dillinger – Wow. Just, just, wow. THANK YOU SO MUCH! That's about all I can say to that fabulous review!

Crystal113 – Thanks for the review. Don't worry, more about everything is going to be coming soon.

Pendragon4- Glad I brightened up your week! ;)
Everyone else, love the reviews, please keep 'em coming!


	8. Soup

Katie barely slept that night. Her dreams were filled with anxious nightmares, ones of being dissected piece by piece while she was still living. Countless times, she bolted awake in sheer terror, tangled up in the swirled mess of flannel sheets. Finally though, around four in the morning, she gave up on trying to sleep and went down to the kitchen to get some breakfast.

Her footsteps echoed on the hardwood floors as she walked through the eerily empty, silent halls. Every few feet a large, paned window let in bursts of moonlight, but besides that though it was pitch black. 

Eventually, she stumbled her way into the kitchen. Blindly, she made her way over towards fridge and on her way collided into something. With a thud she bounced back a few inches, reaching forward again to feel what she had hit. Her hands felt a thick fabric, with hard muscle underneath. Her fingers gently reached up and felt an unshaved cheek and then where the eyes should be there was a smooth band. Cyclops.

"Looking for something?" He asked.

Katie struggled to answer as he took a step back and flipped on a light. He gave her a distracted, sort of half smile before turning and withdrawing a box of cereal from one of the cupboards. He then proceeded to get a bowl and a container of milk, all of which he carried over to the table.

"Sit," He told her as he did so himself. She did, and watched silently as he prepared a bowl of cereal. Finally, Scott spoke up.

"He doesn't know, ya know." He said between loud crunches.

"Excuse me?" Katie questioned nervously.

"Xavier." Scott replied before taking another bite. "He doesn't know about yesterday."

Katie felt a swell of relief, but it was quickly gone again. "You're not going to tell him?" 

Scott took his time answering. "He will find out. Trust me, he will. He always does." Crunch. Crunch.

Katie studied the older man, whom she knew little about. His wife had died minutes after the attack she knew, as did she know he was a former X-man. But as she watched the worn-out, graying man who looked like he had seen all too much, she felt sorry for him. Maybe he was working with Xavier, but he appeared rather pathetic with his meager bowl of cereal.

"Why aren't you going to tell him?" She asked, rephrasing her previous question. Scott sat back in his chair with a faint sigh. Then he leaned in close, across the table.

"He killed my wife," He whispered. "And he used me." He added. He backed away a bit. "I'm not telling that bastard anything." He said, voice still in a whisper. Scott began to collect the remains from his meal. He wordlessly replaced everything and washed to bowl. He was about to leave when he stopped. He turned around and looked right at her from behind his dark glasses.

"Don't do it again. You don't need to know; you don't _want_ to know. And next time, he will catch you, not Logan." He finished, voice still not raising above the near whisper. Then, he simply walked out of the kitchen and down the dark hallway.

Feeling a bit bewildered; Katie remained frozen where she sat. She spent the following two hours sitting at the old kitchen table, watching the sunrise. Her fingers lazily traced over faded patterns of the pale wood's grain, while she slowly sipped on a lukewarm cup of coffee. 

Eventually, Students and teachers awoke, more and more as the time passed. But everyone generally knew to avoid her, so she was undisturbed until nearly seven. Ororo came in then in a flurry, looking worried. As soon as she entered the kitchen and spied Katie's slightly slumped form; she let out a relieved sigh.

"We've been looking all over for you." Ororo said in a rush as she walked over to the student, hands on her hips, her relief having turned to irritation. "You were supposed to be in class twenty minutes ago. We thought something happened." She said quickly.

Katie blinked as she listened to Ororo rapidly talk on for another minute before she reached down a roughly grabbed her by the arm. Ororo led her back to class, and while Katie didn't struggle she was shocked at the treatment for skipping a class.

By the time the two had reentered the class, Ororo had regained her typical calm, collected personality and once she opened the carved oak door, she was even cooler. She dropped Katie's arm like it was a hot coal and walked swiftly up to the front of the class. Katie quietly took her seat towards the back, trying to ignore the curious looks that flew her way. 

Ororo cleared her throat loudly, and most of the student's attention turned back to her.

"Now that we're all here we may begin. Are any of you aware of the even that occurred in 1357?" Ororo asked. The rest of the class went by in a long blur.

______________

Around 4-pm that day, Ororo was heading towards the kitchen when she found herself walking directly next to Scott. The exchanged quick, polite greetings. 

"Heard you had a little disaster this morning," Scott said after a minute as they both entered the empty kitchen.

Ororo gave a short, harsh laugh. "Katie was skipping. Of course I panicked. You remember what the Professor said," She replied back as she entered the pantry in search of lunch.

Scott nodded from his position of leaning against one of the counters. 

"And the professor was gone, so what was I supposed to do? Tell everyone why it mattered so much she didn't leave without supervision? That might have taken a while." Ororo said a minute later when she walked out of the deep pantry, can of condensed soup in hand. "You want some?" She asked, holding the can up. 

"Sure," Scott said, moving away from the counter and casually plopping himself down at the table.

"Where is the professor, by the way?" Ororo asked as she searched the cupboards for a can opener. 

Scott considered her question for a moment. "No, actually, I don't know. I think he had Kurt take him somewhere." He shrugged.

"Oh." Ororo commented quietly. 

Their conversation was then broken up by the approaching of a familiar figure that came stalking in. "Hey Scotty-boy," Logan commented as he sat down across from Scott at the table. Scott forced a quick, tight-lipped smile. Ororo cast a glance over her shoulder. 

"Logan, you want some soup?" She questioned, hovering over the pan where she was already heating some up.

Logan made a passively gesture. "Nah," He added. Ororo nodded and turned back to focus on her soup.

"What was the big hubbub about this morning?" Logan asked after a few long, awkward moments of silence.

"One of the students was missing." Scott replied quickly.

"Oh. Well couldn't X find them?" Logan questioned, fiddling absently with the salt shaker. 

"The professor wasn't here, Logan." Scott said evenly.

"Oh, I see." Logan said, pouring the salt shaker over, along the tiny white crystals to tumble free. "Why the big wig-out though? I thought yer all doing some let the students be free to so whatever type of deal now." Logan said, arranging the spilt salt into a neat pile.

Scott rolled his eyes behind his visor. "Logan, please just shut up." He said tightly.

Logan sat back in his chair cockily. "Gee, sorry, Scotty." He said with a trace of a smirk.

Scott let out a short, stressed sigh before hastily standing up. "See you later, Storm," He said before leaving in a huff. 

Ororo cast Logan a sideways glance from the corner of her eye and slightly shook her head.

_____________________

"I believe this could work," Xavier said, pounding his fist on Neil's coffee table.

"No." Neil said again for the umpteenth time. To that, Xavier sighed.

"Would you just listen to logic for God's sake?!" Xavier demanded, his voice rising to a angry yell. Oh how this man's stubbornness infuriated him!

Neil stood up, and began to walk around the room. "What your saying…It's wrong. I..I won't." Neil declared.

Xavier rolled his eyes. "What harm is there in it?"

Neil's head snapped back towards Xavier, his typical, easygoing personality gone. "What the hell do you, 'there's no harm in it'?" 

"Neil, honestly. Be reasonable."

Neil shook his head in disgust. "You know, I went along with it. I went along with it all, buddy. The tests, the studies, the poking and the prodding. Heck, I'm sure you've got enough of my genetic matter to repopulate the earth with nice little Neil clones. But I've gotta draw the line somewhere and this is it."

Xavier closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. "We could fix it." He said quietly.

"It's too late for that!" Neil screamed. "You son of a bitch, when are you going to get it through your head? You can't fix this! You can't! I can't, You can't, and this wouldn't either!" 

Xavier glared at the younger man as he silently watched the tirade. When the former astronaut was finished, Xavier calmly held up a hand for silence.

"Neil," He began slowly. "This is all it would take. I'm sure of it. With this, we could begin all over again. I understand all our previous attempts failed, but this is it! You can be the Adam of this new world, and restart the human population."

Neil opened his mouth to protest, but Xavier, as aggravated as he was, would not allow an interruption. He used a quick telepathic nudge and continued.

"I know this must be rough for you to understand. But just trust me." Xavier finished, releasing his mental grip on Neil to allow him to respond.

"What part of 'No' didn't you understand?" Neil demanded as soon as he was able to speak. Xavier opened his mouth in protest but this time it was Neil who cut him off. 

"And what about the rest of your mutant friends, eh? Not everyone was a human hugger like you, Xavier. I seem to remember some people were quite happy after your little massacre. Oh yes, and I remember the rumors that flew through the limited, controlled media when people thought there were still a few humans milling about. Remember that, Xavier?" As he spoke, Neil walked in a loose pace around his side of the room. He could hear the rain outside, droplets falling rhythmically on the metal roof. Nightcrawler was probably around there somewhere, prowling around in his usual glum. His cold blue eyes drifted over towards where his opponent, Xavier, sat in his streamlined wheelchair. The bald man sat solid as a marble statue, not even blinking. He was probably sorting and sifting through Neil's mind, he decided. That or talking telepathically with his little henchmen back in New York.

Neil snorted, remembering the few brief times he had visited Xavier's school. The fake friendly smiles and gestures. The odd way everyone seemed convinced the world was going just as smoothly as it ever had, while they all avoided speaking of the day _it_ had happened. That had been days after the rumor was spread.

Then of course, when something like that not only is true, but spread around the globe, it is more of a news story. Anyway, someone, one of the doctors perhaps, Neil never did find out though, ratted Xavier out for holding and aiding humans for scientific research. With the government is its early, unstable turmoil, there were never nay formal charges pressed against Xavier. He simply made the lab that was studying Neil and cloning prospects disappear, and that's how he ended up here. On his private little island on the opposite side of the country from Xavier and his precious little school. Far enough away no one would come looking, and to that day no one ever had. The talk of Xavier hiding humans and studying those he held died away quickly, as Xavier revealed his labs to be studying a rare fruit fly from inner Africa.

"Neil," Xavier finally spoke up after a long silence. "If you can't do this the conventional way there are alternatives," He said slowly, gently stroking his chin.

"I thought your point was a _conventional_ human," Neil protested.

"Well, I'd need your cooperation, wouldn't I?" Xavier shot back.

Neil sat down. "I can't do it. Go back to your clones, Professor. I know she wouldn't agree and I'm not either. I had a family already, and you killed them." Neil finished with an accusatory note.

"Damn it, it wasn't my fault!" Xavier yelled at the man, his anger peaking. He then called angrily to Nightcrawler, telepathically summoning him. 

"Good day," Xavier began, turning and wheeling himself towards the door. "This isn't over, Neil." He said as he opened the door, giving one last look back towards the tired looking younger man. He then turned and wheeled himself out the door and onto the porch. There, Kurt was waiting, trying with little avail to shield himself with his arms from the downpour. He smiled when he saw Xavier, but the cheerful look vanished when he realized the mood Xavier was in. He gingerly hopped over, splashing in the already pooling water around his feet in the mud. He looked past Xavier's shoulder to where Neil sat inside, head in his hands.

"Let's go," Xavier commanded suddenly. Kurt grabbed on tightly to the older man and in an instant they were gone.


	9. Documentation

"Gentlemen," President Gregory O'Meara began as he strolled into the conference hall. Before him sat the group of fifteen senators. The title was really just a mere formality in a way. The fifteen were more like the members of the board while he was the CEO. Equal power, yet unequal at the same time. He walked forward and loudly dropped his briefcase on the table in his place. He fiddled with the latch for a moment before withdrawing a thin stack of papers. "It seems," He said, walking behind each seated board member and placing a document in front of them. "That our good friend Xavier is back at it."

O'Meara then paused for a moment, returning to stand behind his chair. He wanted the board to read the document, and read it carefully. The identical documents all contained a quite interesting file he 'borrowed' from Xavier's mansion. Not him personally of course, but some lowly hacker on his payroll. Xavier's system had gone down for a half-hour a few days prior, and it had been the perfect window of opportunity. 

Smith, the hacker, had explained there had probably been a power failure, or perhaps Xavier had had to move the system, or alter it somehow. Ah, he didn't care. He finally had the evidence to go after Xavier, now all he had to do was convince everyone of it.

O'Meara reached into his briefcase and withdrew a spare copy of the document. A tight grin drew on his face as he reread the statement.

_________________

**__**

Classified.

Official report upon closing of Project Clone II.

July 31, 2007.

To Whom It May Concern:

CC: Charles Xavier

It is with much regret and sorrow I, Dr. Gerald Smith, draw closure upon Cloning II. Though our team of specialists had some progress early on, when we first took over the project from Dr. Kane, as our research had come to a swift halt. 

For the record, Cloning II was the second part of two part study and finally an attempt to recreate clones with purely human genetic traits, from only the genetic material gathered from mutants. Dr. Robert Kane led his team of researchers through all preliminary processes and in late September 2005, unexpectantly handed his project over to our team. 

With the premature transfer, our crew of forty-seven researchers had many reasonable problems early on. DNA sequencers malfunctioned, gel electrophoresis experiments had many inaccuracies, and computers and basic pieces of equipment came in late. Once everything began running smoothly again, we began to detect flaws in Kane's original files. Within months, which were filled with failed labor, we determined that the original purpose for Cloning II was unattainable. 

Many strides were made with the research done by our lab. We wish to offer our sponsors a chance to continue with their donations. Their investments would keep the research continuing until late 2009, hopefully longer. I have great faith in the accomplishments that could be made with further examination.

Respectfully,

Dr. Gerald Smith

Representative of Key Post Laboratories. 

_______________________

O'Meara loudly cleared his throat as he finished reading and glanced up. His eyes darted from face to face around the table. Yes, there were certainly reactions among the committee. It was what they had suspected and feared all along. Xavier had finally tried to do it.

As the last member looked up from the reading, O'Meara decided it was time to begin speaking again. 

"Now," He began. "This was sent to Charles Xavier. Further examination of his files proves that he was the instigator of this research. From other documentation, we had reason to believe that he is holding humans against their will for his means of experimentation." O'Meara paused. "He is trying to recreate the human race." He let the statement hang over the silent room.

"Is there anything we can do?" One of the older senators inquired.

__

'We're the US government. We can do whatever the hell we want.' O'Meara thought silently to himself. "Well," He stated. "Not legally. We have not yet passed a law against harboring humans. There has not been a need up until now."

"I see," The senator replied with a tight nod.

"There is another venue we can take," One of the younger female senators said as she stood. O'Meara cast a bored, sideways look in her direction. Maria Fernandez was he name; she was from Texas or New Mexico or somewhere down there. Her tight beige suit matched her unnatural looking blonde hair that offered a contrast to her deeply tanned skin. She began waving her perfectly manicured hands, rambling on about equal rights. It was then O'Meara that remembered where she was from- Sedona, Arizona. She was the hippie, the New Age liberal of the group. He then coughed, interrupting her.

"Shall we just continue to monitor the situation?" He questioned a bit rhetorically. Fernandez shot him a dark look. "We have other matters to discuss this evening, so I would suggest we begin soon."

"There's the crisis between Spain and France, Sir," A general spoke up, his orange eyes locking with O'Meara's. O'Meara nodded. "Very well." He said, opening the floor up for the general to quickly brief them on the topic.

* * * * * * * *

Hours later, O'Meara finally got the chance to return to his office. Before opening the door, he quickly scanned the room with his mutation, x-ray vision. There were plenty of people out there who wouldn't mind killing him. He found nothing out of the ordinary, and opened the door with a slight sense of satisfaction.

As he walked in he lazily loosened his tie and absently threw it towards the bookshelf in the corner. He made his way over to his desk. He slid his feet out of his shiny black dress shoes as he slipped himself into his cushioned office chair. He logged on to his computer and a smile crossed his face. Smith, the hacker had uploaded some more of the files from Xavier's. 

A simple note filled the email screen, saying that it was a diary of sorts for Xavier. To that, O'Meara's grin widened. He opened the attachment and began to read.

__________________

**__**

Xavier's Journal of Anomalies and Further Research.

May 17, 2004: Entry One:

_Discovered two new inconsistencies today. The first was Kyle Lauder, a thirty-two year-old African man who is currently living in South Africa. Made no contact with specimen, will continue supervision for the time being. Second discovery was Katie Becker, in her early teens, drifter. Can be found in the secluded areas of the Colorado Rockies. Also made no contact with specimen. _

Been having problems with Neil, his body has rejected the latest treatment sessions. Dr. Kane has recommended taking a break from the procedure, but I disagreed. Neil should be able to supply what we need. There is no reason to jeopardize other anomalies while he is still in perfect working order.

****

August 8, 2004: Entry two:

_Kyle Lauder passed away. A local telepath discovered he was human and he was stoned in the town center. On a more cheerful note, discovered three more anomalies over the last several weeks; Ming and Ty Woo, from Northern Cambodia along with Sarah Flomer, from Quebec Canada. Could there be a genetic connection between Ming and Ty Woo? Perhaps it kept them alive... Must proceed with further observation._

****

September 13, 2004: Entry three:

_Having some concerns about Neil. Hank reports curious behavior as of late perhaps connected with his current drop in test scores? Must look into this further._

Have not identified any more anomalies to date, the total count is up to 79 though. With luck, the number will cease to decrease and the hate crimes will stop. To date, 86 anomalies have died.

****

October 29, 2004: Entry four:

_Neil had a psychotic breakdown last night. Dr. McCoy believes it was caused from a repressed post-traumatic stress syndrome. Dr. Kane is concerned tests will be thrown off, but I assured him we would add however much time he required to his contract. Neil will not be happy to hear this, he still believes January first he is free to leave, but logically I cannot allow that, with the extraordinary study results and the ongoing projects. It is for his protection as well. It would be homicide on my part to allow him out there, with all the mutants. No, he is much safer here and I am sure he will agree with me once McCoy releases him from rehabilitation._

****

November 3, 2004: Entry Five: 

_Found a new anomaly, a James McKinney of Arkansas. Seventeen years of age, has been hiding in a swampy, deserted region for the last year._

****

January 5, 2005: Entry Six:

_Neil was released this morning so he could continue participating in the study. His mannerisms seem to have been largely altered, which is curious. Hopefully now we won't have to keep him underground. His screams at night tended to wake the children. I am hoping McCoy's treatment helped him. I can sense Neil enjoys being around the children._

Located another four anomalies! I will add their details to the records later. Curiously, they were all from Costa Rica. Connection?

****

March 9, 2005: Entry seven:

_One of the anomalies was killed, once again by angry mutants. _

I fear Neil may be having a relapse of his breakdown, Dr. Kane has reported seizures to be occurring frequently and a decrease in social interactions. I spoke with McCoy about the matter. He feels the research may be too much for Neil. I feel that this is pure nonsense, but he insisted. He even went so far as to suggest sending Neil offsite for a while. I am confident though that it is nothing. Research will keep going as planned.

****

April 23, 2005: Entry eight:

_Been busy in the last week, discovered seven anomalies, with the death of an older specimen a few days ago._

As I feared, Neil has fully relapsed into another breakdown. Dr. Kane is threatening to leave to project while McCoy is insisting we take a break from research. I cannot see how this could have happened! How could Neil do this? How?! I provide and help him; I let him live! All I ask is a little help trying to recreate his race for goodness sakes. I will be looking into McCoy's idea of sending him away for a while.

****

June 12, 2005: Entry nine:

_Well, I found a perfect place to hide Neil. I bought one of the San Juan Islands over in Washington State. The area has primarily become deserted, save for the deepest pockets of downtown Seattle, where live is still quite bubbling. But I do feel the island is plenty secluded, one can only enter via boat. I've commissioned the building of a cabin on the shore a nice, sandy lagoon far inland. Hopefully a vacation there should bring Neil back to normal so we may continue. For the time leading up to his departure though, I've arranged for him to store plenty of DNA samples so Kane can keep working._

The anomalies I've been watching are all doing fairly well, and though I still haven't figured out what is different about them, I believe I've begun to find connections between them. 

****

September 21, 2005: Entry ten:

_Dr. Kane resigned. He approached me quietly this morning and announced his replacement team would be arriving shortly. He asked for his final payment check and then walked away. Replacement? He did not speak to me about this. Why is he doing this? We had originally thought of taking a break halfway through, but that most certainly did not mean he should up and quit! Oh well. At least this new research doctor of his, a Gerald Smith, is a respectable man. That would be just like Kane to stick me with some unreliable bum just to get back at me. He's always had problems like that. I have half a notion to have a bounty hunter go after him for doing this! _

Ah, I must calm down. Kane will get his, that is certain. There have been a string of deaths among the anomalies. Over the last three days nearly fifteen have died. Only two of those appear to have been natural deaths. I'm beginning to worry by the time the project gets far enough along to use them, there won't be any left. Perhaps speeding the process up would serve to our advantage. 

****

May 16, 2006: Entry eleven:

_Dr. Smith's research had been moving along nicely. He says we might finally be on the brink of a successful altered clone. All the research, and finally the promise of results. Oh, this is so exciting! Imagine the reactions from the public! I will have not only redeemed myself for my horrid deeds but I will have finally thrown open the door for mutants and humans to live together in harmony!_

****

October 6, 2006: Entry twelve:

_The project has failed. Smith had tried his hardest and we have nothing. The modification division, alterations, even pure cloning has failed. The simplest things, procedures we have been doing for over thirty years, all failed! It is quite possible that Smith is ruining the projects on purpose, but when I checked his mind earlier I could find no evidence. I will though, all I need to do I keep waiting. We start research up again next week._

****

March 22, 2007: Entry thirteen:

_More anomalies died, but thankfully only two this time. Both were from a mysterious viral infection that is spreading through Europe. The overall anomaly count to date is 457, Plus another 231 deaths. _

Nothing has been heard from Neil for a while. I have left him undisturbed on his little island for months now. We still have plenty of his genetic matter, but I wonder about him from time to time. 

****

July 31, 2007: Entry fourteen:

_Dr. Smith closed research on the second part of the cloning project. How dare him! He submitted his closing report to me this morning with a fax from Rome. He simply explained he couldn't afford to work with me anymore. Preposterous! He then closed the letter with a request for further funding! Ha! I will see to it he never works again!_

_____________________

A/N: That wasn't too boring, was it? Promise it will get exciting soon enough! As always, many thanks to all my reviewers!

MusiqBoy – Aw, your reviewers are great! Glad to have been an inspiration to ya! Thanks for so many reviews!

Leen713 – Yep, Xavier is rather sinister, isn't he? Thanks for the review!

Only Human- Thanks for the great reviews, I love how they are always so deep and thoughtful! Yeah, 500 is a pretty tiny town. I figure one in about twenty survived, or about 5% of the population. Xavier does care, just maybe not the way he should!

Lamby – Yeah, the chappie title was a masterpiece, eh? ;) Thanks for reviewing and I reviewed on of your fics.

Pendragon4 – Yay! You're finally going to continue you fic! Glad you still like the story. I'm a bit curious though where you think it's going. (Because I honestly have no idea. Well, I sorta do, but nothing concrete yet!) 


	10. O'Meara

Charles Xavier sat alone in his office late one night several weeks later. His fingers absently traced tiny patterns on his desk while he blankly stared forward. Finally, he gave a slow blink, then continued his blank stare.

Why must everything be so complicated? He had pondered this many times in the past, but yet again it was thrown back into his face. It seemed the world was against him, trying to make his task even harder than it already was. Why couldn't anyone just cooperate?

Neil, yes, Neil was a large source of his problems. The man could be so damn stubborn! Why couldn't he just do this one little thing? Honestly, was it really too much to ask? Just a few moments and it would have been over with. On top of that, he probably would have enjoyed it too. Here he was, the man who whined and complained about being the sole remaining 'real' human, and here he wouldn't help at all to fix his plight. Some people…

And then there was Katie. Naïve little Katie. Of course, he knew about her little adventures in the campus's basement, and her exploration of files and such. He didn't particularly mind. So she knew, so what? Maybe she would have at least cooperated with what he had been going to ask.

What did bother Xavier though was the fact that Scott held him responsible for Jean's death. How dare he! Xavier knew he would have to have a serious talk with Cyclops before too long. They couldn't afford feelings like that to remain amongst the X-men. It was feelings like that that led to his problems with the government.

Yes, He had known Gregory O'Meara a while back. During the few days after the accident, O'Meara had wandered across the mansion's grounds, stumbling and staggering. A vivid memory filled Xavier's mind as he remembered that day.

_

* * *

_

"Professor, Look," The gentle voice of Ororo Munroe called out to him, pointing off into the distance at something. From his window, Xavier spied a gray figure stumbling and staggering across the sharp looking manicured lawn that stretched across the mansion's southern side. Quickly, Xavier commanded Scott and Hank to go to this peculiar intruder as he focused more intently on him. His eyes unconsciously narrowed as his thoughts all became acutely focused on the man.

Suddenly, Xavier broke into the man's mind and the floodgates poured open. Bits and pieces of the man's mind flew through Xavier mind; images and words becoming jumbled and blurred. Charles was able to sort things out and watched from the man's perspective as he stood in downtown Times Square, New York City. People around him all wore fashions not seen for decades, and as the man's line of sight slowly turned, Xavier caught a glance towards a newspaper. November 1961. Charles felt the man's rising fear and pain as he collapsed to his knees on the crowded sidewalk, clutching his head. When he looked up, everything had taken on a stark, black and white hue. He blinked rapidly, trying to clear his vision. As he cautiously stood, the realization hit him- he was seeing bones, not people. In panic, he rushed through the crowd, trying to find a quiet spot. He was terrified and thoughts whisked through his mind.

Xavier then paused, then sped quickly through the man's mind, simply rifling through flashes of scenes. The man in a tidy office, gazing out the window. Him with his wife. Their two children. Summer at their villa on the beach. Her look of fear when she discovered his secret. Divorce papers. Court. Empty Apartment. Running for Senate. Witnessing the early stages of the war, and then finally walking amongst the bodies minutes after the attack.

Charles then closed the mental link. So this man, a Greg O'Meara, was a mutant. It had been nearly a month since the attack and he still held out hope for finding human survivors. He sighed, pushing away those hopes. He would have to simply accept it sooner or later. They were gone. The very people he had been working so hard to save, to prove to them that mutants were friendly; he had killed.

* * *

Over the following months, O'Meara lived at the mansion. He spent a lot of time observing the way things worked and spent a great deal of his time conversing with Neil towards the end of his stay. Xavier didn't have any problem with that. Neil Branch seemed to be much more comfortable alone, the recluse that he was; but around O'Meara he seemed to open up and find a new wave of patience.

Another interesting thing about O'Meara was that he spoke what he thought. If he didn't agree with something, everyone in the mansion knew about it. When he learned for sure that Xavier had caused the attack, Scott and Logan had had to restrain him from attacking the professor. For the following weeks, O'Meara had been unnaturally quiet. Then one day afterwards, he had moved out. Nothing was heard from Gregory O'Meara for quite some time after that, a good two or three years at least. But then, suddenly there had been a newsbreak. An up-and-coming executive had announced the cause of the 2003 attack, a Charles Xavier of New York. He relayed his dramatic story to the press, tales of during his several months stay being tortured and locked away merely for disagreeing with the professor. The few remaining media sources had all flocked to the story, continuously brining it up again. The school had been flooded with calls from rather arrogant reporters making accusatory statements and demanding interviews. Students and other residents began dropping out.

Finally, Xavier accepted one of the interview opportunities. With Scott by his side, He publicly announced O'Meara's claims as 'ridiculous' and 'unfounded'. Later in his speech, he invited anyone to witness his school and it's methods. And so they did. Over the following two months, he kept the school officially open for inspection and a handful of makeshift government workers and crews observed everything that went on. During that period though, Xavier had had to send Neil briefly away, so he would not be discovered. Unfortunately, at the same time, Neil was having 'psychological difficulties', as Hank so delicately put it. But he called on a few favors, and with a little bit of persuasion, he had purchased a few islands and properties here and there across the country. One couldn't be too careful in matters such as this; he had justified.

And so, after examination upon examination, the school had been pronounced as perfectly safe, but O'Meara still had a credible case. He decided not to press charges though, and came out the hero in the end. That night, Xavier went carefully through all of the mansion's files and eliminated any trace of O'Meara. In the wee hours of the morning, he had finished his task with a great swell of satisfaction.

That was the last experience he had had with the man. Sure, he had watched silently as the man who had once lived happily in his school rose to power. He won the affection of the mutant population, and now had achieved the highest position of power, President of the United States. While it was true the US suffered from the attacks just like any other country, he had managed to regroup the nation in his last few years campaigning, and now the country was stronger than ever.

And now, now Xavier found himself oddly afraid of this man of all things. In reality, the man posed no threat that Xavier couldn't take on, but the sense of uneasiness remained. He sighed, and decided it was no use losing sleep over the matter. It was already approaching three in the morning, and he was still sitting up in his office. Having made up his mind, he promptly turned and began to wheel away. From where he sat, the letter he had been clutching for the past few hours drifted lazily to the floor. The cause of his worry, all contained in a small paragraph on a plain piece of paper.

The sentence that was typed on the paper reiterated in his head as he wheeled out of the room, closing the door behind him. _'I'm watching,' _it had read. _'And your time is limited, Charles.' _The letter was closed simply with O'Meara's name and a tiny hand drawn smiley face, sketched in a vivid red ink. But it didn't worry Charles Xavier. Really, it didn't. Not too much, at least.

* * *

At the same time that late night, Katie sneaked quietly in to the mansion's library. It was dark; the curtains were closed, blocking out the moonlight. She made her way over to the island of computers that sat towards the back of the library. When she had almost reached the island, she crashed into a cart of books which all fell down with a loud clatter. She swore under breath as she struggled to replace the books on the cart but quickly gave up in doing so as it was dark and she was making much more noise than she needed to be. She proceeded to make her way over to the computers.

Tentatively, she reached over and decisively it the keyboard with a quick flick of her wrist. The computer made a slight whirling noise before the monitor kicked to life. A blank blue screen stared back at her for a moment before a tiny white window popped up, asking her to log in. She sat down gingerly in front of the computer and entered into a temporary account. On one of her first days at the school, Scott had been explaining that until they got her account permanently set up, she should use a temporary one. Temps weren't monitored, nor could anything be saved on them. Even though now she had a real account, she certainly didn't want anyone to be monitoring what she was about to do.

Her fingers flew over the keys as fast yet as quietly as they could, entering the generic screen name of TEMP with as password of TEMP. The window disappeared and the screen returned to its prior blank blue. As she waited for it to finish logging her in, she withdrew a crumpled piece of paper from her pocket. She unfolded it, smoothing the creases out against her jeans. Earlier she had been reviewing the newspaper she had gotten several weeks ago and had decided to look further into the people and events it discussed. Katie had also decided it would be best for her to do her research after everyone had long ago gone to bed. So here she was.

She glanced up and realized the computer had fully loaded. She faintly smiled in the pale blue glow the screen gave off as she opened up an Internet browser window. She then glanced down at the list that lay in her lap. She picked the first thing off her smudged list and typed it in to the first search engine she could find. She had entered 'Senate'.

Katie's eyes flickered up and down the screen as results for her inquiry popped up. Many of the summaries appeared to be referring to the old senate, the one she was somewhat familiar with. Realizing there were simply too many sites up, she decided to try her next topic.

Spain versus France. That brought up a few interesting results. She quickly browsed through a few mainstream new sites, but to her dismay found they had facts and statistics only, no real cause was stated. With a growing frustration, she entered the third topic: President O'Meara.

Katie thought she heard the sound of footsteps outside so she clicked on the first result. Her heart began to race as she heard the sound of the library door unlocking. Hastily, she hit the 'Print' button, and quickly logged out of the computer. The door creaked open as she dashed over to the printer.

"Katie?" A deep voice questioned. She spun around, snatching the completed paper out of the printer. In the doorway stood a rather tired looking Dr. McCoy.

"What are you doing up?" He questioned groggily.

"English paper." She stuttered. "It's due tomorrow," She added weakly.

Hank nodded absently. "The professor sent me down here to see why you were still awake. Go to bed," he commanded before turning and leaving.

Once he had left, Katie let out a deep breath. Her racing heart began to slow, though she doubted she would get much sleep after that quick adrenaline rush. But at least she had found something. Katie decided not to stay down in the library, as Xavier must have been checking on her. She would complete her reading in her room, hopefully alone.


	11. Fight

_Beep Beep._

Warmth. Safety. That was the only way to describe Katie's vision at the moment. She was dreaming, of course, but of this she was not yet aware. In her mind, spiky lime green blades of fresh grass tickled her toes as she chased her younger brother through the garden. Yards away, her parents laughed jovially; her mother sipping on a tall glass of lemonade while her father kept the two children in sight with his camcorder.

_Beep Beep._

Katie laughed as she continued to chase her brother, who was only around seven. All of a sudden though, he stopped running. She came up behind him and saw why. There on the edge of the garden a low, dark smoke waved upwards, similar to the patterns dry ice gives off. The smell of dirt and decay reached her nose, brought up by the smoke. Katie took an involuntary step backward, suddenly afraid. The garden had grown cool and dark, and when she glanced up she could no longer see the sun, only dark, looming clouds. She reached forward and grabbed her brother around the shoulders and began trying to pull him backward. He didn't move. Slowly though, his head turned around. When she saw him, she screamed. His eyes were gone. Gone! Simply gone, only empty, hollowed out sockets remained. She felt a wave of bile rise in her throat as her hands flew off his body as if they had been burned. The missing eyes continued to stare at her until finally they blinked and a small smile crossed his face. She turned and ran.

_Beep Beep._

Her run was an all out sprint now; she could feel the icy mist of the smoke on the back of her neck. She stumbled once on an exposed tree root, but she just kept on going. She finally returned to the clearing where she had just seen her parents, but they were gone now. Katie paused momentarily, but with another howling gust of wind, she began to run again. She was running out of the garden now, into the woods. Fallen trees blocked her path and spider webs smeared across her face. She scrapped her arm on a tall bush and got her T-shirt caught. She struggled to free her self, but the more she tried, the more stuck she became. The mist was now wafting past her now, long tendrils whipping past her ankles. Then, at a much slower pace, the smoke began to curl upwards. It took its time as she continued to struggle, slowly drifting upwards until finally it had reached her mouth.

_Beep Beep._

She couldn't breathe! She gasped for air and her ears began to ring as she fell to her knees.

_Beep Beep! Beep! Beep!!!_

Katie bolted awake, and looked around the empty room, confused. Over on the nightstand, the small black alarm clock let out another stream of persistent beeps, in hopes of waking her. She muttered something under her breath before flipping the clock of and tossing it towards the foot of the bed. It rolled of and fell onto the cool, hardwood floorings with a loud clatter. Grumbling, she kicked her feet out from under the cover and slowly stood up. She slowly made her way into the bathroom, each step brining on feebler grumbling.

Once in the bathroom, she splashed some cool water on her face, trying to wake herself up. She caught a sight of her reflection in the mirror and cringed. Her hair was still halfway in yesterday's ponytail, the rest had frizzed out and had form a sort of mini matted, bushy blonde afro. Her eye makeup had smeared down all around her dull blue eyes, making them appear bruised and sunken in. She turned away from the mirror and dried her face with her bath towel.

As she rubbed the last remains of the makeup off, she happened to catch sight of the clock. She froze. It was nearly 7:50…Classes started at eight! Coming out of her shocked horror, she let out a loud curse, and then began searching through the room for some half-decent clothes to wear.

Hasty, she pulled on a pair of jeans from the day before that still lay in a pile by the window where she had tossed them down the night before. She then snatched a baggy T-shirt of the top of her dresser. Along with her binder and ran out of the room. Last week, when she had been late for Ororo's class every day, the older mutant had promised she would make her take another year of classes if she was late again; and Katie had no doubt the teacher could convince Xavier of keeping her around for another year or two.

A few minutes later, she came skidding to a stop in front of the classroom's closed door. Before entering, She slipped her binder between her legs and took the time to slip the shirt on over her head. She was quite certain that Ororo would much rather have her come to class late than come early wearing only a skimpy camisole. Then, once she had done that, she picked her binder back up and bolted into class.

Just as the clock struck eight.

Ororo gave her a raised eyebrow, but said nothing. Everyone in the class turned around and stared as Katie took her seat towards the back of the room. A few scattered snickers were heard throughout the room. Ororo then stepped to the front of the class and loudly cleared her throat and the room became silent again.

"That's better," She said and turned back to her desk. She grabbed a stack of papers and began to slowly walk across the front of the room. Her high-heeled black boots clinked as she walked, her white hair pulled back into a bun with a pair of black lacquered chopsticks.

"I have some news about last week's quiz," She began, her voice neutral. "Out of the twelve of you in the class, only two got D's." She paused, watching the tense, nervous look from behind her dark eyes. "One of you got a C," she added, watching the anxiousness intensify. "One of you got a B," She said, taking one last look across the room.

"And the other eight of you failed." She said flatly. Groans and sighs spilled out across the room. Ororo slightly shook her head at the typical reaction as she began walking between he desks, returning papers. Once finished with that task, she returned to the front of the room. She leaned back slightly on her desk, watching for a moment as the students each first checked their own quiz, then those belonging to those around them.

"1338," She declared, brining everyone's attention back to her once again. "Jubilee, If you read last night's homework, you should be able to tell me what happened that year." She commanded, slightly tipping her head off to one side.

"Ummm," Jubilee mumbled, glancing around. She stuttered for a moment, but Ororo cut her off.

"The start of the hundred years war." She declared as Jubilee sunk down into her seat. "Now, jump ahead nine years. What is happening in Sicily?" Ororo's gaze swept across the room.

"Katie, do you know?" She questioned. The human girl appeared to have been sleeping.

"The beginning of the black plague?" She questioned.

A smile crossed Ororo's face. "That is correct. In late October, 1348, Genoese trading ships pulled into Messina harbor in Sicily, their passengers nfected with the black death. These stricken men had strange black swellings the size of an egg or apple in their armpits and groin. These swellings oozed blood and pus and were quickly followed by black blotches on the skin from internal bleeding. The sailors experienced such intense pain that death, which generally followed five days after the first symptoms, came as a welcome relief. Due to the lack of hygiene, the disease raced through the port town. As the contagion spread, new symptoms developed: continuous fever, spitting of blood instead of the swelling, heavy sweating, and death within three days or less, sometimes in 24 hours."

"The were Rumors of a plague in the Orient circulating in Europe since 1346. But, In an age given to hyperbole, everyone believed the news of 23 million people dying to be exaggerated. Not until late 1347 did the Europeans finally come to understand the terrible accuracy of that figure.

" The general course of the disease in a geographic area ran about six months. It would then fade unless the area affected was densely populated, in which case it would subside for the winter only to undertake its grim work with renewed vigor in the spring.

"Accurate mortality rates are difficult to find. The best estimates place the mortality rate anywhere between one-fifth and nine-tenths of the population. This would translate into about twenty million people dying between 1348 and 1350. The deaths occurred so quickly that there was no time for the sacrament of extreme unction, and the Pope had to issue mass forgiveness. The dead outnumbered the living by such a margin that in some cities the bodies were allowed to pile up outside in the streets, adding to the contagion.

"The "black death," as the plague was known, influenced virtually every aspect of life in the latter part of the century. Its effects on the economy were profound. Generally speaking, however, the plague brought in its wake a recession from which Europe did not recover until the end of the fifteenth century." Ororo paused before continuing any further.

"I think that's enough for today," She stated abruptly. "I want you all to read chapter five, parts one through three and answer questions number five through seventeen on page 306." She said before turning around and sitting down quickly at her desk.

* * *

Two classes later, it was finally time for lunch. It was one of those always welcomed yet somewhat dreaded times of the day for Katie. As she walked back towards the kitchen after dropping her books of in her room, she silently spoke calming words of reassurance to herself. Loud sounds from the bustle that was associated with the short lunch break greeted her.

She darted in between two younger students who were yelling about something and carefully made her way over to the long counter where the teachers usually just set out anything edible in a buffet of sorts. She hastily slapped together a sandwich and was making her way back out the doorway when Jubilee called out to her. Katie let out a disappointed sigh before turning around to look for Jubilee.

The short Asian girl was seated at the table across the room with a group of students and a few she did not recognize. She waved for Katie to come over.

Katie forced a smile as she walked over and quietly sat down. She realized that the two she hadn't recognized were Bobby and Rogue. Peter, Kitty, and another student Katie was unfamiliar with sat at the table as well.

"Bobby and Rogue just flew in from their place down in California," Jubilee explained quickly. Katie merely nodded.

Rogue then turned to her. "Katie! How is it going here?" She asked with a smile as she brushed a stray lock of pale hair from her face.

Katie nodded quickly. "It's going good." She said swiftly.

Rogue's smile widened. "Good. I was worried you would have a hard time after what you told us." Under the table, Bobby kicked her and Rogue suddenly realized what she had said.

Kitty glanced curiously at Katie then back at Rogue. "Why would she have any trouble?" She asked.

Rogue was about to speak but Bobby cut her off. "Long story." He stated simply. He then turned to Peter. "So, you and Kitty gone out yet?" He asked playfully, while changing the subject. To this, everyone but Katie laughed, as she wasn't sure what was so funny. But this went unnoticed. Suddenly, she felt out of place as the group recapped old stories. She excused her self and began quickly walking back up to her room. She spent the remaining twenty minutes of lunch sitting cross-legged on her unmade bed, nibbling on her jam sandwich.

When it was nearly time for class to start, she hurriedly grabbed her books again and made her way back downstairs. It appeared that most everyone, save for a few stragglers like herself, was already in class. She hastened her step, and kept her head down. It wasn't that she was against interaction with the other students, but when around them, she felt so out of place. She didn't belong here, and they would agree if they knew about her. She knew one of these days everyone was going to find out and she would have to leave then anyway, so why get to know these people? They would just as soon hate her, as they would befriend her.

"Katie!" Someone called out from behind. Katie spun around and came face to face with Rogue. Katie was a bit taken aback at the sudden appearance of the former student.

"I just wanted to say I'm sorry about what happened back there," Rogue explained. "I thought everyone knew."

Katie sighed. "Well, they don't. Why else do you think they speak to me?" She shot back. She spun around and quickly began walking back the way she had been going. Rogue grabbed on to her shoulder with a gloved hand and spun the younger girl around.

"It's not like that here. Everyone here has dealt with discrimination. They won't treat you any different. But isolating yourself from everyone will separate you from them! Just give them a chance!" Rogue protested.

Katie's eyes narrowed. "Why am I here, Rogue?" She demanded suddenly.

"What? What kind of question is that? You're here because we want to help you!" Rogue said, struggling to keep her voice from rising.

"Really? Then why does the professor have dozens of files on cloning? Am I just another part of an experiment?" Katie seethed through clenched teeth, letting all of her contained fears and suspicious spill out in her tirade.

"What are you talking about?" Rogue questioned.

"Or more importantly," A voice said, stepping up behind the two began. "Why aren't you in class?" Both girls sun around to see the stiff figure of Scott Summers.

"I had to talk to Katie about something, Scott. Sorry I caused her to be late." Rogue hastily said before Katie could say anything.

"Ah," was all Scott said. "You had better get to class, Katie. Ask one of the students for the assignment." He instructed before turning to Rogue. Once the younger girl was out of earshot, he began. "What _was _that?" He demanded.

Rogue blinked. "I tried to apologize and she just blew up on me." She said quietly, staring at the departing figure.

"I see. I'll talk to the professor about it." Scott said. "Have a safe flight home," He added as he walked away. Rogue nodded and left in search of Bobby.

A few moments later, a very confused yet curious Jubilee emerged from the kitchen. Unknown the three involved in the brawl, she had heard every word.

* * *

A/N: Sorry that took so long! I had piles of homework, and they only seem to be getting bigger! Anyway, hope y'all liked the chapter; there's a bit of student interaction for ya, Only Human! A lot more of Katie will come in the following chapters, I just wanted to throw in all the little subplots and other stuff in first!


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